The present invention relates to remote control signal receiver and method, and a remote control system, and for example relates to remote control signal receiver and method and a remote control system in which a remote control signal can be transmitted among devices connected to a serial bus by converting the remote control signal to a data format of the serial bus for transmitting digital data bi-directionally.
Recently, it has been widely performed to control devices by using a remote commander for transmitting a command with infrared radiation or the like (hereinafter suitably referred to as remote control). FIG. 1 shows the case where plural devices are controlled by using a remote commander. In this case, a television receiver (TV) 4 is operated by a remote controller 1 which is attached to the television receiver. A video cassette recorder (VCR) 5 is operated by a remote controller 2 which is attached thereto. An LD player 6 is operated by a remote controller 3 which is attached thereto.
As described above, when each device is remote-controlled, the remote control attached to each device is used. However, it has been recently typical to attach remote controllers to most domestic electrical articles such as video/acoustic equipment, air conditioners, etc., and thus, the home is flooded with many remote controllers. As a result, there may occur a case where a device is operated by a remote controller, which is different from a remote controller designed for that device, so that the device malfunctions or never operates.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, it may be considered that a remote controller 11 is provided with a function of transmitting remote control signals corresponding to plural devices, and it transmits a remote control signal corresponding to a device specified by a user, whereby the number of remote controllers can be reduced and the malfunction can be suppressed.
However, even when a remote controller is enabled to transmit the remote control signals corresponding to plural devices, devices which are operation targets (in ,this case, TV 4, VCR 5 and LD player 6) must be placed where they can receive the remote control signals from the remote controller 11, and for example there is a problem that it is impossible to control a device in a room from another room.
Further, for example, when a user operates VCR 5 by using the remote controller 11, in order to check whether the VCR 5 correctly performs the operation corresponding to an instruction of the user""s remote control, the user must watch the display portion of VCR 5 or check whether a tape actually runs, and this is cumbersome.
The present invention has been implemented in view of the above situation, and it has an object to moderate the restriction on the placement of each device when each device is operated by using a remote controller for plural devices, and also facilitate a check operation as to whether an operation instructed to each device by using the remote controller is actually performed by the device.
A remote control signal receiver according to a first aspect of the present invention is characterized by including reception means of receiving a remote signal, conversion means for converting the remote control signal to data of data format of a serial bus when the remote control signal is directed to targets other than itself, and transmission means for transmitting the data converted by the conversion means through the serial bus to a device connected to the serial bus.
A remote control signal reception method according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized by comprising the steps of receiving a remote control signal, converting the received signal to data of data format of a serial bus when the received remote control signal is directed to targets other than itself, and transmitting the converted data through the serial bus to a device connected to the serial bus.
A remote control system according to a third aspect of the present invention which transmits a remote control signal transmitted from a remote control generator among devices which are connected by a serial bus for transmitting digital data bi-directionally, wherein each device includes remote control signal reception means for receiving the remote control signal, conversion means for converting the remote control signal to data of data format of a serial bus when the remote control signal is directed to targets other than itself, transmission means for transmitting the remote control data converted by the conversion means through the serial bus to another prescribed device connected to the serial bus, remote control data reception means for receiving the remote control data from another device, response means for transmitting a response to the remote control data received by the remote control data reception means through the serial bus to another device, response reception means for receiving the response transmitted through the serial bus by response means of another device, and remote control data transmission means for generating the remote control data corresponding to the response received by the response receiving means, and transmitting remote control data to the remote control signal generator.
In the remote control signal receiver according to the first aspect of the present invention, the reception means receives the remote control signal, and when the remote control signal is directed to other targets than itself, the conversion means converts the remote control signal to the data of the data format of the serial bus. The transmission means transmits the data converted by the conversion means through the serial bus to a device connected to the serial bus.
In the remote control signal reception method according to the second aspect of the present invention, the remote control signal is received, and when the received remote control signal is directed to targets other than itself, the remote control signal is converted to the data of the data format of the serial bus. The converted data are transmitted through the serial bus to a device connected to the serial bus.
In the remote control system according to the third aspect of the present invention, in each device, when the remote control signal is directed to targets other than itself, the conversion means converts the remote control signal to the data of the data format of the serial bus, the transmission means transmits the remote control data converted by the conversion means through the serial bus to another prescribed device connected to the serial bus, the remote control data reception means receives remote control data from another device, the response means transmits the response corresponding to the remote control data received by the remote control data through the serial bus to another device, the response reception means receives the response transmitted through the serial bus by the response means of another device, and the remote control data transmission means generates remote control data corresponding to the response received by the response reception means and transmits the data to the remote control signal generator.